Bulgarian triple jumper fails drug test

Two positive dope tests for steroids involving a Taiwanese weightlifter and a Bulgarian triple jumper were announced on Wednesday, two days before the opening ceremony of the Sydney Games.

Taiwan's Chen Po-pu became the first athlete to get expelled from the Sydney Olympics for doping after a positive test for methandienone.

Later, an International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) spokesman said Bulgarian triple jumper Iva Prandzheva had tested positive for the steroid nandrolone.

Prandzheva, a silver medallist at the 1995 world championships, was one of only two people caught for taking drugs at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She was banned for two years for taking methandienone.

IAAF spokesman Giorgio Reineri said Prandzheva had now been suspended by the Bulgarian federation but had no other details.

The IAAF arbitration panel is scheduled to meet in Sydney on Thursday, the day before the Games open, to consider the doping case of Germany's 1992 Barcelona Olympic 5,000 metres champion Dieter Baumann.

Baumann is one of several track and field athletes, including Britain's 1992 Olympic gold medallist Linford Christie, who have tested positive for nandrolone.

Chen, who took silver and bronze medals at world junior competitions in 1997 and 1998, had been due to compete in the 62 kg category.

He had been training with the rest of the Taiwanese team on the outskirts of Sydney this week.

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) last month banned two Taiwanese, including three times world champion Chen Jui-lien, from competing at Sydney for doping offences.